On the first day of Christmas...

Twelve more days until Christmas! I don't know about all of you but it's been a blur these past few weeks.  We don't know our holiday travel plans yet so that's wreaking havoc on my planning skills. It's been a whirlwind of shopping, parties, baking (lots of baking!), cleaning and decorating. 

At times it has been a little stressful but once Joe comes home from work and the fire is on, the lights are off, and the Christmas tree is lit up everything is ok again.  It's amazing what the glow of Christmas lights can do...it softens everything just a bit so it looks beautiful.

Abbey looking adorable in front of the tree

Duke and Abbey snoozing away while we clean (probably their muddy pawprints!)

My recent chalkboard art attempt. It will go on my mantle.

Me and Duke doing our best pose

Hope these next few days are filled with love, joy, and all things merry. Take a moment to breathe deeply and appreciate everything you have.  It all goes by too fast.

 

 

Merry Christmas!

~kc

Sprinkles

 

Why does this make me giggle?

 

 

I just keep thinking of rainbow or chocolate sprinkles falling from the sky.  It's been one of those days!

~kc

Infertility sucks

It sucks big time. There’s really no way of sugar coating it. It just sucks.  I wish more people understood that. 

 

 It’s a silent journey between spouses.  Most people don’t have a clue what is going on—or realize how incredibly difficult it is.  Every month you hope and pray.  And every month you have to deal with the crushing disappointment. 

  

It’s exhausting.  It’s painful. It’s embarrassing. 

 

 My husband and I are approaching our 3^rd wedding anniversary in a few weeks. If you had asked me three years ago where we would be I had this perfect image of our life in a cute little house with an adorable toddler running in the yard.  Maybe there’d be another on the way and a dog wagging its tail.  We have part of the picture.  We finally found our home and we do have two crazy puppies running in the yard.  But it’s missing something.  Something so huge that it leaves tears burning behind my eyes and my heart so full of pain….

 

Yet I continue about my life with a smile on my face.  My husband and I hold hands and share a special glance. I take the deep breath to hold back the tears as I celebrate a friend’s wonderful announcement of a new pregnancy. I put on a brave face when another clueless person asks when we’re going to get started with that family already…

 

Found here

I feel alone yet I know I’m not.  I know there are so many women who deal with this every day, many longer than I have. I wish I knew who they were.  I wish I could run to their office when something just sets me off.  I wish I could call them when I get the bad news that this cycle is a bust for my treatment plan.

 

It’s made me realize that we really have no idea what is going on in a person’s life.  Remember that when you are dealing with someone who’s being bitchy or annoying.  You never know what they may be dealing with that day.

 

Why am I sharing this?  I don’t know. I’ve struggled with sharing a lot of this for a long time now.  But, it hasn’t done me much good keeping it inside.  Maybe if more people knew how painful it was they wouldn’t treat it so carelessly.

 

It just sucks.

 

 

Where does the time go?

Today is my oldest niece's 15th birthday.  Seriously!? How did this sweet little girl become a 15 year old so quickly?

I think what makes it even more startling for me is that she's my first niece. I was 15 when she was born and I remember it like it was yesterday. It was so exciting and fun.  She was and still is such an incredibly sweet little girl.  

Happy Birthday to a wonderful little girl that has rapidly become a beautiful young lady!

~kc

Sleepy dogs

It's been a while since I've bored you all with puppy pictures.  Here's a sleepy tribute to the pups--it's hard work!

For some reason Duke chose my mom's coffee table instead of the couch

That's Abbey with her arm around Duke. So cute!

They're so cute when they're asleep (and quiet)

After a walk, Duke prefers laying down on the air conditioning vent...smart dog

So sleepy. Please leave me alone.

Abbey prefers to sleep on the back of the sofa

I love their floppy ears

What are you looking at?

The problem with sleeping on the back of the sofa is that Abbey tends to fall. That's my foot supporting her

And when I remove the foot...down she goes into my lap

Hope you enjoyed your puppy fix today. Time for a nap!
~kc

Laughter is the best medicine

I went to the doctor today.  He told me I was to laugh today. Seriously.  I suppose laughter really is the best medicine! If it works, then I'll be happy to laugh all day and every day. 

So it made me think about some of my go-to things for when I need a pick-me-up. I hope these make you laugh too.

As a Yankee living in the South this crack me up. I find that I've definitely started saying 'Bless her heart' all the time now!

From someecards

Have you ever gone onto Cakewrecks? As a baker, this site is hilarious. It's taught me to be very careful as to how you frost a cupcake with chocolate icing.  If you want a really good laugh make sure you visit this entry. My husband and I roll on the floor laughing every time we read it.

From CakeWrecks

I think I may need to submit a photo of my dogs onto Dogshaming.  They do love toilet paper rolls.  The best was when Duke greeted me at the door with his puppy pad in his mouth....awesome.

Abbey pulling the roll.

Duke waiting for the cardboard tube

What do you do when you need a laugh?
~Kc

For the ups and downs

This song just came on my Pandora station.  

I love it.

~kc

After every storm is a rainbow

I came home from walking the dogs the other night to seeing this gorgeous rainbow right outside my house.  It was amazing to see a full rainbow from end to end.  It has to be a good sign, right?

Look at how brilliant the colors were!  My camera doesn't do it justice.

It brought a smile to my face.  Mother Nature has some cool tricks up her sleeve.

~Kc

So big so fast!

Remember this picture?

The two of them could fit in the dog bed together...even if they fell out of it.  There was plenty of room for their tiny little puppy bodies.

And now...

They can barely fit on it alone let alone together!  Which means they end up wrestling.

Crazy puppies. But oh so cute.

~Kc

An artist I am not...

But I wish I was! I truly have very little creative talent. What I do have is an ability to copy creative things that other people with said talent do.  I cheat. I copy.  Oh well.

When I drove up to parents house on the 4th of July I was greeted to a charming chalkboard sign welcoming me and my husband. It was the cutest darn thing ever.  Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised when my mom surprised me with one of my own for my front porch.  I am obsessed with chalkboard lately.  Love it.

I tried to be a little artistic with my first sign.  My mom had also given me some of the fancy chalkboard markers that I wanted to use.

Here I am at work. I finished sketching out my design. I wish I had taken the picture so that I would have seen where I was crooked.  Whoops.

 And here are some views of the finished product.  I'm pretty happy with it! The chalkboard markers are awesome. They are easy to use and the colors are incredibly vibrant.

Next time I think I will stick to just white chalk. Or I may buy regular chalk in the pastel colors. I like the vibrant markers but I also like the whimsy of the old fashioned chalk.  We'll see!

~Kc

Mmm...cookie dough

New challenge!  It is cookie dough theme week. So many options, so little time.

From Heat Oven @350

From My Baking Addiction

From Bubble and Sweet

From Kevin and Amanda

From The Domestic Rebel

From The Big Red Kitchen

From Babble

From Willow Bird Baking

From King Arthur Flour

Any preferences?  I can't decide!

~Kc

Best cupcakes ever

Remember this post? I chose to make the Twinkie Cupcakes from The Domestic Rebel.  At first I wasn't quite sure they were that good but the blog post said to eat the cupcakes cold.  

Oh. My. God. 

 When Joe got home from work we both had our first bite.  Delicious.  Seriously.  It's the best Twinkie I have ever had.  

With a little effort you can have a homemade Twinkie without the preservatives that is delicious. I will be making these cupcakes again. 

And again. 

And again.

~Kc

The little things

 When I'm having a bad day I look at pictures of my puppies.  They immediately bring a smile to my face. They make me feel like a superhero.  It makes me excited to finish up my work and head home because their little butt waggle of excitement is purely for me. 

Sorry for the shaky video. I'm still getting the hang of it.  The pups crack me up.  Abbey is a hoarder and toy thief. She feels compelled to have control of every toy under the sun.  Poor Duke doesn't stand a chance!

They like to play under our arm chairs. They can sit under there and "talk" to each other.

They have mastered the stairs. Thank goodness for baby gates.

And when I'm having a bad day and they come snuggle up on my lap all the bad disappears.

~kc

5 ingredients or less...

Another week, another challenge.  This time the challenge is to make a dessert that requires only 5 ingredients or less!  I love this challenge.  I'm all about simple and easy desserts.  Now it's just a matter of picking from the many options. 


Smores Bites

From Style with Wisdom

Cookies and Cream Bars

From Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Smores Dip

From What Megan's Making

Strawberry Cheesecake

From McCormick

 Smores Truffles

From Liesl's Confection Dissection

Peanut Butter Pie

From Food

Can you tell that I really like smores?  I need to think about this one a bit more.  Any thoughts or suggestions?

~Kc

P.S. Last week I ended up making a Blue Moon cupcake.  My thought was that Blue Moon is made in America but it's a Belgian wheat style beer. And then August is going to be a blue moon...they ended up being very tasty!